Buildings are typically constructed by framing stud walls first in a horizontal position relative to the ground. The wall is then tilted to a vertical position and temporarily supported until adjacent walls are similarly framed and erected. Before the walls can be permanently connected, each wall must be plumbed, meaning the wall must be precisely positioned at a ninety degree angle with respect to the floor.
The typical approach for plumbing a wall has required at least two carpenters. One carpenter uses a diagonally positioned board ("pry board") to support the wall, while the other carpenter applies a level to the wall to determine whether and how much the wall should be moved in order to achieve a square angle relative to the ground. If the wall is not plumb, the leveling carpenter tells the other carpenter (the racking carpenter) to move the pry board. The racking carpenter then kicks or taps the board to alter the alignment of the wall.
Plumbing and aligning an average house typically requires approximately 20 or more 2.times.4's of 12 to 18 feet in length as pry boards. The 2.times.4's are used as temporary braces to push or pull a wood framed wall in or out until the joists are in place. The bigger the building, the more of these temporary braces are required. It is often very difficult to push or pull a wall in from the outside of the building, especially on a second or third floor. Labor is required to drive stakes into the ground to support the 2.times.4's and later to pry stakes up for further use. The various 2.times.4's which are placed during construction to plumb and align the wall further create a hazardous condition for workers who find themselves tripping over or bumping into the braces as they try to maneuver joists or other materials through the building for the next phase of construction.
Another problem with the use of 2.times.4 pry boards for plumbing walls is that kicking or tapping the prying board to establish precise and accurate alignment is unsatisfactory. The racking carpenter is not capable of making the requisite fine adjustments. Further, for one carpenter to rely on the oral directions of the other provides a degree of uncertainty as to how much racking is necessary. Also, the requirement of two carpenters needlessly increases labor costs.
Prior inventors have proposed solutions to the problem such as the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,806. This device includes a hydraulic jack for racking the wall from a remote position. The problem with this device is that it only allows the carpenter to make fine adjustments in one direction.
Another one-carpenter plumbing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,741. The device includes a rope and pulley fastened between interfacing erect walls. However, this device is not useful for plumbing a single independent wall.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device useful for plumbing a wall, which is designed for making fine adjustments in either of opposite directions for pushing or pulling the wall into plumb alignment.
Another object of the invention is to provide a device which allows a single carpenter to accurately plumb a wall.
Another object is to provide a safer technique for plum-aligning walls, then is currently available.
Another object is to provide a plumb-align device which is more cost and time efficient than prior devices.